In 1964, student hairdresser Dennis Tanner cut Sandra's hair while he was on a course. The meeting left a bigger impression on Sandra than Dennis, and he was mystified to receive a love letter from her. They arranged to meet, and Sandra told Dennis she was in love with him but he got rid of her by pretending to be engaged to Irma Barlow

The following May, Sandra saw the Corner Shop on Dennis's street was up for sale and persuaded Lionel to buy it, and renewed her quest to win Dennis's heart. Despite Dennis's attempts to escape her, Sandra's persistence paid off and started seeing her to let her think they were dating. Sandra was insecure and thought she wasn't good enough for Dennis, but didn't realise that he had no real interest in her and was only using her as a diversion and her access to the shop storeroom to stock bulk items he had bought and was planning to sell at a profit.

Having been living in the Corner Shop flat, Sandra decided that working under Lionel's rule was too much and applied for a job at Gamma Garments clothing store without asking Lionel. He was looking for someone to blame for stealing her away and spoke to Sandra's supervisor Emily Nugent.

When Sandra finally realised that Dennis was just using her, she immediately found a flat in Leestand Road and moved out of his life.